


Eos Rising

by London_Halcyon



Category: RWBY
Genre: Anti-Faunus Racism (RWBY), Gen, Pre-Canon, Redemption, Revenge, White Fang, faunus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2020-02-10 12:50:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18660781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/London_Halcyon/pseuds/London_Halcyon
Summary: Eos Malefic, a young Faunus, lived a relatively peaceful and stable life with her parents in a small Anima village. Things weren't perfect, but they were happy. Then a Faunus rebellion on the nearby Atwell plantation would spark a chain of events that would take all of that peace and happiness away, leaving Eos to face a world of segregation and discrimination on her own. Lost and angry, she would later find that there were others like her--others that had been beaten, stolen from, and shunned. Others that were out for blood.This is not a happy story. This is a story of revenge.





	Eos Rising

_Look out! They're coming!_

_Retreat! Back to the train!_

_Get to your places! We're leaving now!_

_They made it onboard!_

_Get the Humans!_

_We're gonna crash!_

_Get down! Brace for impact!_

 

Sirens. That was the first thing that broke through her consciousness; it was sirens. The high-pitched wailing drilled into her ears and pierced her eardrums. She wanted to cover her ears, to block out the noise, but she couldn't move. Her body was heavy; it felt like a deadweight. She couldn't even open her eyes.

Other noises gradually filtered into her consciousness. There were shouts and gunfire, screams of terror and panic, and blood-chilling hisses and roars—the heart-stopping cries of monsters from beyond the darkest depths of nightmares.

She had to move, she had to get up, she had to...what? What was going on? There was metal and stone beneath her, jabbing her ribs and digging into her skin. Where was she? Why were they under attack? What was this chaos?

They? Chaos? _They._ The White Fang. _Chaos._ Chaos they had caused. The attack on the city. They had made it. It was happening. It was...oh no...

An earth-shattering roar caused her to jerk upright with a gasp—a mistake on her part. A muffled cry escaped her lips in response to the jolt of pain that seemed to shoot through her entire body, originating in her ribs. The world tilted dizzily as her head spun, and she was forced to close her eyes again and scrape her golden claws along the ground in order to steady herself.

After a few deep breaths, she slowly opened her eyes. Her whole body ached and her head still spun, but she managed to hold herself in a sitting position. Moving as little as possible, she examined her surroundings. Smoke and dust filled her lungs and clouded her vision, but she could tell that she was still in the train car—or at least what was left of it. The metal container was twisted and bent, barely recognizable as the rectangular box it had once been. It had flipped on its side, the open doors now forming the ceiling and floor. Well, that explained why she was sitting on stone.

She was lucky. A few more feet to the side and she would have been—

Her breath caught in her throat. There was blood everywhere. Her hands instinctively went to her own body to check for injury, but she knew it was not hers. Her Aura had protected her. Had it not, she would have been dead...like everyone else in the car.

When the Huntsman and the young Huntresses had hitched a ride uninvited, most of her brothers had gone topside to get them off the train. Four had been ordered to stay in this car to stop them from making it to the engine. Three had been new recruits, unlikely to survive if they went with the others. The forth had been her, a senior member meant to keep them out of trouble. She had failed.

The upper half of a man lay facedown in a thick pool of blood before her; the other half was likely outside of the train. He must've fallen out of the car during the crash and then had his spinal cord crushed by the frame of the open door when the train toppled over. It would've killed him instantly.

A girl lay on her back beside him. The Faunus was young, only in her teens. Her eyes were closed, and it would've seemed that she had been sleeping if not for the bloody gash on the side of her head. No breath. No pulse. Another instant death.

The third recruit was nowhere to be seen. He had been young as well, in his early twenties. Whether he had left the car on his own accord or not, she didn't know. He'd had more control of his Aura than the others; perhaps he had survived.

_I'm sorry, my brother and sister. May you find peace in knowing that we will not stop until we have achieved what you have fought for. Your sacrifice will be remembered. You will be avenged._

A second deafening roar shook the earth, followed by more shouts and gunfire. That hadn't come from the city. That had come from the subway—just outside the car.

She struggled to climb to her feet, but the sharp pain in her ribs made it hard to move. Her Aura was healing her injuries, but not fast enough. She needed to get out of the train. She needed to go help her remaining brothers.

Her hand knocked against something on the ground, and her fingers latched onto it, recognizing the hard handle of _Diavel_. She squeezed its grip, and the black-handled double sword extended to its full length. Driving one amber blade into the ground, she pulled herself to her feet before nearly falling over again in a painful fit of coughing, the cloud of smoke and dust having thickened further above the ground. She leaned on her staff and tentatively took an unsteady step forward.

_Crunch!_

Moving her foot back in surprise, she looked down to see her white Grimm mask in the place where she had stepped. It was cracked in two.

With a shaky breath, she raised her gaze. It didn't matter. It wouldn't help her here.

She focused on the opening above her head. The pain in her ribs had begun to fade to a smoldering ache. It had to be good enough. To be trapped was to surely die.

One deep breath. Another. And she leaped, grunting with both pain and exertion before her boots landed on top of the toppled car with a metallic thud. All the air left her lungs, although not because the action had left her in excruciating pain.           

It was because what she saw—despite all the suffering and blood her life had already seen—she would never forget.           

Wave after never-ending wave of Grimm ran, crawled, thundered, slithered, and stampeded down the dim subway tunnel. Hundreds of Creeps, Beowolves, Ursai, Boarbatusks, Death Stalkers, and King Taijitus all charged along the remains of the train, heading towards a bright light at the end of the line. The sound that came with it was deafening. Never before had she heard such a cacophony of unearthly hissing, growling, snarling, howling, clicking, and roaring. That combined with the hair-raising screams, sirens, and explosions coming from the light was enough to make an ordinary person's blood run cold with paralyzing fear.           

Torchwick's plan had succeeded. The White Fang had led the Grimm to Vale. And now her brothers were being torn apart.           

The screams were not only outside the tunnel; they were inside it too. Many of her comrades had survived the crash—many more than she could ever have hoped—but now they were caught in the middle of the torrent of Grimm. Swords flashed and gunfire echoed as they tried to fight their way out of the flood, but it was a losing battle. Some made it to the light, hopefully to slip away unnoticed amidst the chaos, but most did not. Scarlet blood splattered over everything as the dark monsters ripped her brothers apart limb by limb. There were too many. They were overwhelmed, and to be overwhelmed by Grimm meant imminent death.           

With a roar of her own, she hopped into the battle. She charged, quickly running one amber blade of her sword straight through a Beowolf's chest. The beast disintegrated instantly, and the smoke briefly covered the young man it had been about to bite in half. It was the surviving recruit from her car.           

"Run! To the light! Now!" she ordered. He didn't hesitate and shot off as she continued in the opposite direction.           

She twirled _Diavel_ , slashing Grimm left and right as she cleared a path for herself. With a thunderous roar, a mountainous Ursa Major rose up in front of her, halting her fight to her brothers. She ducked under a swipe from its dagger-like claws and swung her tail hard into its chest. The large Ursa grunted from the impact and toppled over backwards. She finished it with a blade through the stomach.           

A loud squeal followed by a shout of panic caught her attention, and she looked in time to see the Boarbatusk begin its charge. Putting on a burst of speed of her own, she roughly shoved its wooden-legged target out of the way barely a second before the spinning pig blew by. With an angry squeal, the little Grimm turned around to try again. It didn't get the chance to move another foot before she smacked it across the snout with her tail and promptly gutted its exposed belly.            

She turned back to the man she had saved and gave him another shove. "Run! To the light!" Eyes glazed, he too stumbled off.           

Two separate groups of Beowolves and Creeps started to swarm her, attempting to drown her beneath their teeth and claws, but she beat them back. She spun as if she was dancing and twirled her blades and slashed her tail. Half the Beowolves fell before her while the other half howled at immobilizing pain, and the Creeps were sent flying before slamming to death or a daze against the tunnel wall.           

A girl suddenly crashed to the ground at her feet, having been knocked away from her companions by an Alpha Beowolf. The two remaining men fired upon the creature, but their bullets did no damage against its thick skin and heavy bone plates. The Alpha raised a massive paw, preparing to deal what would've been a fatal blow. She leaped in front of her comrades as the monster struck and wrapped her tail around its wrist. The Alpha's angry snarl was cut short as she cleanly sliced its head off in one swift strike.           

She hauled the girl to her feet and shepherded all three of her comrades towards the end of the tunnel. "Go! All of you! To the light!"           

Once she was sure they were heading in the right direction, she turned around and charged back into battle. And that is how it continued.           

The skewered eye of a King Taijitu: "Go! Hurry! To the light!"           

The severed tail of a Death Stalker: "That way! The light! Hurry!"           

The decapitated head of an Ursa: "Run! To the light!"           

The smoldering fur of a Beowolf: "That way! To the light!"         

On and on repeatedly it went. Her motions became robotic; every action became one of a short list: hack, slash, stab, duck, roll, jump, spin, and whip. It felt like she had been fighting for hours, but in reality it had only been minutes.           

They began to cry her name. It went from, "Help!" to, "Eos, help!" to just, "Eos!"           

And she responded to their cries, as many as she could—always there in an instant to throw herself in front of teeth, claws, tusks, stingers, and fangs in order to give them a chance to escape from the overwhelming darkness.           

"Eos! Eos!" they called. To which she always responded, "To the light!"           

"Eos!"           

"Go! To the light!"           

"Eos!"           

"Got it! Run! To the light!"           

But she couldn't always be fast enough. The rose petal blood from a portion of her failures splattered a sharp contrast against the white of her armor. The ghostly screams from the rest would haunt her for the years to come. She couldn't always save everyone.           

Some of the other senior members, those that were skilled in combat, began to gather around. They stood shoulder to shoulder, sword by sword, gun by gun, forming a stubborn wall of Faunus that both stalled the Grimm advance and shielded her from the fight. She lashed her tail in annoyance and adrenaline-fueled impatience. This was her battle as well. She was more than capable of fighting beside them.           

A touch at her shoulder nearly caused her to drive _Diavel_ into her brother in surprise. The man jerked back for fear of friendly fire, although she had already managed to restrain herself. In the dim light of the cave, she could not see enough details to recognize him under his armor, hood, and mask, but she could tell that he was likely older than her by a number of years.           

"You should get out of here!" he shouted over the noise. "Flee with the others! We'll cover you!"         

She shook her head. "No! Not until everyone else has escaped!"           

"They already have! You made sure of that! It's just us left!"           

"Then you should escape too!"           

Now the man shook his head. "You first! You're too valuable, Eos! Too young and too valuable! We're not! The White Fang doesn't need us, but it does need you!"           

His words made her feel desperate. "That's not true! You have to come with me!"           

"We'll be right behind you!" He gave her shove, like she had repeatedly done to other members throughout the battle. "Now, go! Hurry!"           

Against her better judgement, she stumbled forward into a run. Her heart pounded in her ears and her breath came in short bursts as she unsteadily sprinted towards the entrance. She felt fear grip her heart in a way it had failed to do during the entire time in the tunnels. People were going to die to protect her. Not again. She couldn't watch people die for her again. She had to turn around and help them, but she couldn't. She had to listen to them; she had to obey their final wish. All this couldn't be in vain.           

But she wasn't special. She wasn't worth dying for.           

Rubble caught her feet, and she barely saved herself from falling face-first into the concrete. She had reached the back of the train engine now; the large black machine poked its head out of the gaping hole that marked the end of the cave. The light was right in front of her. That meant that the town square was right in front of her. All that was left to do was to sneak away through crowd and chaos and she would be home free.           

The ground rumbled and shook beneath her feet, and now she did trip, falling forward onto her hands and knees. Stones clacked and bounced on the ground as they vibrated, and the train groaned with protest. The back of her neck tingled, warning her of the approach of something powerful. An earthquake?           

It was not an earthquake, and her heart sank with fear and dread as she recognized what her Aura was sensing. She had felt a power of this kind only once before, many years ago. That last time had been when...           

 _Mom?_            

She shook her head with self-disgust. Now was not the time to fear old ghosts. Her mother was dead and had been that way for ten years. The only person who could've been present with that kind of power would have to have been...a Huntress. One Huntress to be exact.           

"No!" she gasped, clambering to her feet. Broken bits of stone—pieces of buildings, streets, and sidewalks—rose into the air and shot out the hole. She struggled to climb over the debris, desperate to make it to the surface, but then the ground shook again and forced her to stop to regain her balance.           

The train engine had started to rise. The ancient black monster floated seemingly weightless in the air, and it creaked and groaned as it slowly drifted out of the hole. Shouts of alarm came from behind her as the others realized what was happening, and footsteps on stone echoed the sound of them rushing to the exit. But they were too late. They were all too late because, seconds later, it all came crashing down on top of them.           

With a thunderous crash, the engine smashed to the ground back inside the tunnel, and the force of it sent her flying. She tumbled head over heels, knocking into hard stone and warm bodies. Flying bits of debris slammed into her, tearing through her sleeves and scrapping against her skin. Her Aura had long since been depleted, the second time in the last half hour, and if it wasn't for her white and red chest plate, then she would have been dead.           

She'd been luckier.           

For a moment there was no sound and no feeling at all; everything was still. Then came the soreness and stinging cuts on her body and the cold ground beneath her. Then came the moans and grunts of life and the coughing from dust-filled air. Then came the hungry darkness and the monstrous cries of death.           

She used _Diavel_ to haul herself to her feet once more. Dust and wails of despair hung in the air around her. There was no more light and no more escape, only solid stone and darkness. The tunnel was almost too dim for even a Faunus to see, but she could see the eyes. With her back against the wall that had once meant her freedom, she stared at the hundreds of pairs of burning red eyes that now imprisoned her to her doom.           

"Well," said a voice at her feet, "I guess this is it."           

With a snarl, she pulled the man up and shoved his gun into his hand. "No!" she spat. "I'm not going down yet, and neither are you!" _Diavel_ clicked at the touch of her hands, and soon she held two swords, their amber blades burning orange with flame. "To me, comrades!" she shouted. "To me!"           

She roared at the darkness, and it roared back. Then she charged, leaving a trail of flames behind her as she sprinted, and hit the shadowy creatures head on. Her attack caught the first wave by surprise, and black smoke quickly thickened the already dark air as the beasts disintegrated. The other creatures began to bite and slash; only after she bit and slashed first, for she was a creature of darkness as well, just faster, smarter, and angrier.           

But then the monsters surrounded her, and she was just one flickering light in a sea of black. She was drowning in the darkness, sinking, going down, down, down...           

Battle cries cut through the murk, and her comrades were on either side of her. Bullets and blades thudded into flesh, and smoke whispered into the air. It was the most beautiful symphony she had ever heard.         

"We got this!" she encouraged. "Push forward!"           

Cheers rang in response. They weren't going to fall, not yet. They were tighter than any Beowolf pack, stronger than any titanic Ursa, tougher than any armored Death Stalker, faster than any spinning Boarbatusk, smarter than any two-headed Taijitu, and darker than any hideous Creep. They were Faunus. They were beasts. They were the White Fang. With their own darkness, they would beat the darkness back.           

"Eos! Eos!" they cried, but not for need of rescue.           

"Eos!" 

"To the light!"           

"Eos! To the light!" It was a cry of survival.           

"Eos! To the light!" It was a cry of hope.           

That's when the flames on her swords flickered and died, the last few drops of her Aura no longer available to fuel the Dust in the hilts. The darkness converged once more, surrounding her, wearing her down.           

"Eos!" they called, hints of terror weaving through their voices.           

"I'm here!" she called back. "Keep fighting!"           

"Eos!" Their voices were farther apart now, swamped with the waves of Grimm.         

"To me!" she shouted again. "To me!"           

But her call did no good, for when they cried her name, it was with panic. Their words were faint and easily drowned out by the screams of death. The sea of Grimm was breaking up their little raft and carrying the pieces far apart for some to be lost beneath the waves.           

"Eos!" they screamed, sometimes unintelligibly, as terror filled their mouths and pulled them down to meet the claws and teeth.           

She screamed as well, but it was not with fear. It was with rage.           

"Eos!"           

Rage that it had had to come to this—that they had been left with no choice.           

"Eos!"           

Rage that their plans had blown up—that they had nearly been put down before they had even been given a chance.           

"Eos!"           

Rage that they had been left to die—that they had been trapped like rats or rabid animals no one wanted to touch.          

 _Eos!_            

And only one thing was responsible. One thing made sure of their position in life. One thing had caused the train to crash early. One thing had trapped them in the cave. One thing had caused the death around her.

 _Eos!_            

Adam was right. Torchwick was right.  

_Eos!_

 Beacon would have to fall.


End file.
